3400 Rattling Noise! Just Purchased Car!
 

Just purchased this 05 and got a great deal on it....now I know why! Drove fine for about 200 miles and then the wife comes home saying theres a noise when you accelerate. Checked out the car and found a ton of coolant aside from the rattling. Car doesn't overheat. Drives fine. But check out this video I took. What the heck can this be?? Thanks in advance!

can you tell where the coolant is leaking from? looked at the waterpump and other pulleys?

My money is on water pump as well. If it truly is, the water pump, never fear, as that is a SUPER easy job on a 3400 and SUPER cheap! I got a upgraded style pump (was a manufactured pump with a better impeller) for $15 from Advanced Auto. Average cost on that pump for a brand new one is $20-$30.

To check it, I would try the following:
- Remove the belt, then spin the water pump pulley listen for noise, feel for any roughness in it's travel. If you have noise and/or it does not spin smoothly, that is your culprit.
- Get a radiator pressure tester as a loan-a-tool, pressurize the system to about 13 PSI. Listen for hissing, look for leaks.
- Based on where you see coolant in that video, I bet the liner on the hood is soaked, in a line that follows the belt? When these pumps leak, it's common for the belt to fling the coolant, makes it look far worse then it really is.

Thats great news if it is the water pump then! I was thinking maybe the head gaskets or bad piston. I will look into thia asap since my wife and I use this car to drive my son to his appointments and daycare.

I thought with a bad pump, usually the car overheats and heat stops working? Or maybe I'm catching it at a good time early enough where it isnt as serious yet? Could a water pump cause that rattling noise under acceleration?

if that w/p bearing is failing or sounds like it has failed it will sound like hell, the more rpm you give it the worse it becomes.

You guys on hete are the best i really appreciate the help.

So any advice when changing the pump? Is it literally just removing the belt, removing and replacing the pump and putting the belt back on? I'm guessing buying some more coolant too?

You are on target about replacing the pump. Before removing the belt, brake the bolts loose on the pulley (the tension of the belt will help). Once loose, drop the belt, remove the bolts holding the pulley, I believe 7 bolts hold the pump in. Remove them. If the pump does not just drop into you hands, a whack with a rubber mallet should do it. Clean any gasket material hanging on the housing the pump came from.

Try ensuring the new gasket is flat before re-install (helps avoid fighting it when it curls). Also, the holes for the bolts on the pump and gasket may appear to be evenly spaced, they are NOT. There is an orientation it needs to mount up to. I don't have any tricks off the top of my head on getting it right the first time.

Outside of that, re-install everything and then top off coolant and bleed the air out. Done.

Sounds easy enough thanks again! I'll be tackling this down this Saturday hope all goes well lol

So I ended up taking the car to the dealership and they said leak could just be a bad radiator cap and rattling was a belt tensioner. So i replaced both. Still hear the rattle but I noticed when I removed the belt, the rattle went away. Any ideas at this point?

Has the leak stopped?

With the belt off, spin each pulley by hand. Listen for noises and feel for roughness in the travel of the pulley. Also, grab the pulley and wiggle it, checking for play. I am still with the thought that it is a water pump. My experience is that tensioner pulleys make rub/scraping noises, water pumps tend to rattle.